This disclosure is directed to systems and methods for monitoring inventory status of replaceable components, associated with a machine or device, which include electronically-readable monitor modules for monitoring of at least one variable, yet measurable, characteristic of the replaceable component.
Many devices in common use today include replaceable components. These replaceable components often include an externally or remotely electronically-readable monitoring module for monitoring one or more characteristics regarding the replaceable component. Such characteristics can include static information, i.e., information that does not change over the life of the component, such as a model or serial number. The monitoring module can also be used to record, in an electronically-readable format, dynamic information relating to a particular characteristic of the replaceable component which may change over time. Such dynamic information includes, for example, information on use, maintenance, failures, diagnostics, remanufacture, and remaining service life. Often such a monitoring module is connected, via wired or wireless connection, to a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with the device in which the replaceable component is installed. The intent of providing such a capability is that any customer, end-user, field-service representative or other individual available and capable of replacing the replaceable component may be alerted to a need to accomplish such replacement, or preferably may be alerted early to pending status which will define a need for replacement in the near future based on information such as, for example, remaining service life of the individual replaceable component. Appropriately exploiting this information, however, requires that an individual assess the information presented on the GUI and then respond appropriately.
Despite available GUI warning messages, however, often devices experience unanticipated shutdowns due to an unrecognized or uncorrected pending or actual “end of life” condition of one or more replaceable components, all alerts to such impending conditions having gone unheeded by available personnel. In certain industries, such shutdowns occur at a notable rate causing customers or other end-users to incur substantial expense in requiring expedited servicing, and/or immediately fillable orders for replacement components, to replace the expended components, or simply through loss of revenue based on lack of availability of critical replaceable components at both the point and time of need, thereby taking the device out of service for some, possibly extended, period of time until replacement components are received and installed. This problem is particularly acute in the case of certain long-life replaceable components because immediate availability of such components is decreased over those demanding more frequent replacement based on the nature of such components. It may be advantageous to provide a system that may lower average inventory costs by “predicting” the complete exhaustion of components, based on tracking of the replacement rate (units per month, for example) and, in the case of a service organization, provide a pointer to a “nearest available component” to a service person in the event that a nearby machine has a component which is in need of replacement, but a replacement may not be immediately on hand. This minimizes the cost (in time and transportation expense) of the service person traveling to a centralized parts depot to obtain the needed component.
External, particularly supplier-based, monitoring of available on-hand inventories of replaceable components at end-use sites is, therefore, advantageous. Such a capability allows a supplier to independently monitor the status of customer and/or field replaceable components in order to bridge the gap in ensuring that the on-hand supply of critical replaceable components meets the availability required at the point and time of need without unnecessarily burdening the customer or end-user sites with a need to maintain excessive supplies of such replaceable components.
Systems exist for providing rudimentary on-site inventory and replaceable component status monitoring. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,491,217 and 6,758,397 to Catan disclose machine-readable label (MRL) reader systems for articles, to include articles with a “changeable” status. In these systems, a changeable description of an article labeled by an MRL is tracked, using a unique code in the MRL correlated with certain descriptive information about the article including some possibly changeable information, a record of which is available through manual update of the MRL. U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,757 to Wallace discloses a system and method for monitoring food information in a food service facility wherein a plurality of remote sensor units may be installed in a food receptacle to gather temperature or other food data from multiple sources, the collected data being transmitted to a central computer.
Both Catan and Wallace disclose a capability to read static and/or manually updated information regarding on-hand inventories of some commodities including food. A drawback to such systems as are disclosed in Catan and Wallace is that when the level of the contents within a container changes, or the nature of the contents within a container changes, or other like conditions regarding a container change, interaction by a supplier or a user is required to update the information on a label, MRL or other “readable” tag. The mere presence or absence of a component in a storage position, which is the main objective of such automated inventory management systems, does not capture any knowledge about a condition of the stored components or inventory.
Many industries that have implemented systems and methods such as those described above for basic inventory and replaceable status monitoring on-site have incorporated a next step. This next step involves extending the on-site monitoring capability by incorporating, within their devices, an ability to transmit the internally monitored information described above externally to a network. Transmitted monitoring information may then be available for remote call-up such as, for example, as part of a remote and/or off-site diagnostic access to the status of the device in order that the “health” of the components operating within the device can be monitored. Often, however, such monitoring involves little more than an ability to read binary or on-off “fault flags” that have been set by the device, internally generated based on the device's ability to read a condition of a component and to determine whether it is “good” or “bad.” This intervening step simplifies the externally transmitted information, but may leave the receiving node lacking critical information as to the status of the device or components housed within the device.
Examples of such externally monitorable devices include various types of electronic office equipment, particularly image forming devices, such as those disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,621 to Richards et al., which is commonly assigned and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Richards discusses replaceable components in the context of Customer Replaceable Units (“CRUs”) which routinely include electronically-readable chips containing static information for identification of the CRU, and/or dynamic information relating to a particular CRU's operating status. The dynamic information may include a fill level, number of uses expended, or other indication of projected service life remaining. Richards explains that when an individual CRU is installed in the disclosed modularly designed office equipment, a communication interface is established with the electronically-readable chip as a component status monitoring module located within, or externally mounted to, a CRU. Such a monitoring module enables the office equipment to monitor a characteristic of the replaceable modular component by reading data from, and potentially updating the information contained by writing data to, the monitoring module. Richards refers to such electronically-readable chips as Customer Replaceable Unit Monitors (“CRUMs”).
Richards explains that the business office device within which the CRU is installed, powers and communicates with the CRUM, through wired or wireless communication, in order that the device is updated on at least a routine basis with the status of the CRU which operates within the device. It is just such information which is often available via a GUI as either routine status information, or when, for example, remaining service life reaches predetermined critical values, warning messages regarding impending system failure and/or shutdown.
Accordingly, conditions such as “new” or “exhausted” are easily determinable as are a more detailed continuum of states or conditions ranging, for example from “unused” thru “partially consumed” to “exhausted.” More detailed condition monitoring yet may detect states such as, for example, “damaged” and/or “unusable.” Certain of these states or conditions are monitored by “smart” component monitors such as, for example, CRUMs, in order that the component monitor “knows” something about the component's condition.
In printer and/or other image forming devices, systems for communicating with and/or remotely diagnosing the status of widely dispersed devices are well known, as they are in other technology areas. These systems communicate via any manner of wired or wireless communications with network interfaces such as, for example, via telephone lines, local area networks, and/or the Internet, in order to provide, for example, a remote service center with access to the device in order to read status and/or diagnostic information produced by the device. Remote and widely dispersed access is thus implemented such that an operator, supplier, diagnostic technician or other individual whose duties may require access to information regarding the status of the device, or any replaceable component operating therein, can review the information.